9 dead after cable car plunges to ground in Italy, 2 children hospitalized

ROME (AP) — Italian authorities say a cable car taking visitors to a mountaintop view of some of northern Italy’s most picturesque lakes has plunged to the ground, killing at least nine people and sending two children to a hospital. A photo of the wreckage taken by Italy’s fire department showed the crushed and crumpled remains of the cable car in a clearing of a thick patch of pine trees near the summit of the Mottarone peak overlooking Lake Maggiore. A rescue official said that at that location, about 100 meters before the final pilon, the cables of the lift were particularly high off the ground. The cause hasn’t been determined. Milan noted that the cable line had been renovated in 2016 and had only recently reopened after coronavirus lockdowns.